The entire film festival experience was incredibly inspiring. I would imagine that the quality of the films, the diversity of their mediums, the poetry of their expression, and the intensity of their stories has jetisoned many other than myself into this state of sleep deprivation mixed with creative overload. Beyond spending hours upon hours watching films and reflecting on them with discussions or the blog posts, really the most inspiring aspect of the AAFF was the obvious momentum in the community that it has generated.

It seemed that everywhere I went, people were super pumped about the festival and already churning out excited ideas for next year's fest. Eavesdropping here and there, I didn't even know how half these people were involved with the festival, but somehow they had contributed to it and thus felt like they were a part of it. I heard filmmakers from far-off lands gushing over the rarity of this level of community involvement. Executive Director Donald Harrison was a catalyst in connecting artists, designers, engineers, filmmakers, tech people, journalists, sponsors, board members, activists, and everybody else into an ever-growing movement that has been growing over the past year, in Ann Arbor and beyond, and ultimately culminated during the six days of the festival.

In closing, I'd like to address the AAFF:

Hey, Ann Arbor Film Festival

It was a blast--you're the best! Thanks for everything, and don't ever change (except of course next year will be even better).

See ya then! ciao, Amanda